The week ending February 21, 2014 was a light week, so this week’s Update covers the two weeks ending February 28, 2014
- 9th Circuit holds actress owns copyright in her individual performance, reverses lower court’s denial of preliminary injunction. Garcia v. Google (link). See blog post on this case here.
- Utah federal district court issues preliminary injunction order against Aereo, limited to Tenth Circuit. Aereo’s first loss in court, although courts in California and the District of Columbia had enjoined FilmOn X, which provides retransmission of over-the-air broadcasting using the same technology. Communityy Television of Utah v. Aereo.
- Southern District of Florida grants motion to dismiss in case alleging copyright infringement of architectural works. Sieger Suarez v Arquitectonica
- The USPTO has published more material relating to the Green Paper on Copyright Policy, Creativity and Innovation in the Digital Economy (link). A transcript of the December 12, 2013 public hearing is available here. Post-hearing public comments are available here.
- The Copyright Office’s announcement requesting comments and announcing a roundtable on the “making available” right for copyright holders has been published in Federal Register (link)
- The U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota has issued an injunction, under the authority of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA), against a defendant that allegedly broke into a company’s computer system and took confidential information. Reliable Property Services v. Capital Growth Partners.
- The broadcasters have filed their initial Supreme Court brief in American Broadcasting v. Aereo (link)
- Motion to dismiss action based on a DMCA takedown notice targeting a trademark (as opposed to a copyright, which is the only appropriate subject of a DMCA takedown notice), denied by N.D. Cal. court. Crossfit v. Alvies (link)
- Ninth Circuit finds no trademark infringement based on “trademark fair use.” Webceleb v. Proctor & Gamble (link).
- Billboard reports on “Songwriter Equity Act,” which would update the factors considered by the Copyright Royalty Board when determining compulsory licenses for songwriters, composers and publishers (link)